SCHENECTADY — When retired 1st Sgt. Matt Eversmann visited the Union College men's hockey team last month, he gave a gift to the head coach: a cloth patch depicting the Army Rangers scroll.

Every Army Ranger wears such a patch on his jacket. Eversmann owns three. One he keeps on his dresser with his American flags. Another he plans to give to his 8-year-old daughter. The third he gave to Rick Bennett.

"I was floored," Union's first-year coach said.

The patch has seen battle, though Eversmann can't be sure whether he wore that particular patch during his yearlong tour in Iraq or during a combat deployment to Somalia. He may have worn it Oct. 3, 1993, during the Battle of Mogadishu, which later was made famous by the movie "Black Hawk Down."

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At a glance

Union vs. Michigan State

What: East regional first-round college hockey playoffs

When: 3 p.m. Friday

Where: Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Conn.

TV: ESPNU

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At the time, Eversmann was an Army Rangers staff sergeant. He and his 12 men dropped from a helicopter into the Somali capital and endured a two-day battle that ultimately cost 19 American lives. The film helped turn Eversmann and the other survivors into icons for heroism, solidarity and bravery.

When he coaches in the NCAA tournament Friday in Bridgeport, Conn., Bennett will have the patch in the left pocket of his slacks, just as he has for every game since Feb. 3, when Eversmann visited the Union locker room and spoke to the team.

"I haven't asked for many people's autograph in my life, maybe about three," Bennett said. "I asked for his. I feel like a 5-year-old in front of him. It's a great feeling to have. Very rarely do you get that feeling as an adult. When you do, it's pretty awesome."

The most amazing part: When Eversmann is around the Union hockey team, he feels the same way.

Eversmann first heard about Union hockey from his father-in-law, a 1973 alumnus named Ned Dukehart.

While Eversmann was serving in Iraq from August 2006 to October 2007, the Union hockey program sent him care packages. The boxes of Union shirts and hats arrived while Eversmann was stationed in a volatile Baghdad neighborhood the media was calling the "triangle of death."

"To be able to sit around in our plywood shack and put on a Union hockey hat, a little touch of home, I can't tell you how much that means," Eversmann said. "It's something so benign, a doggone hockey hat. But believe me, you don't forget those kinds of gestures."

Eversmann began following the program when he returned to the United States. With Union climbing the national rankings this season, Dukehart told his son-in-law he wanted to bring him to Schenectady for a game. They chose a game against Colgate at Messa Rink.

Before the game, Bennett invited Eversmann into the locker room to speak to his players. Eversmann told them about how he felt the morning he received word that he and his men would be going into battle in Mogadishu.

He remembered the butterflies in his stomach when the alert first sounded, then readying his equipment to take his mind off the dangers ahead, then hearing the whir of the helicopter blades as he grabbed the rope and descended into the battle zone.

"It must be like what they feel when they're stepping onto the ice," Eversmann said. "Let's face it: No one, generally speaking, is going to die in a hockey game. But the behavior of people who can thrive in that pressure, in critical situations, I think it's the same."

Eversmann — who lives in Baltimore with his wife, Tori, and daughter, Molly — follows every Union game on the Internet. When the game ends, he immediately sends Bennett an email, usually with some sort of quotation appropriate for the situation.

After Union lost to Cornell on Feb. 24, Eversmann wrote to Bennett, "The enemy has a vote in every battle. The warriors who have what it takes will go back to battle stronger."